"But as James and the Heat visit the Los Angeles Clippers on this Feb. 5, the lessons from the past are a reminder to be careful making assumptions at midseason. Especially when it comes to James."

"This time is going to be different," adds 'a source close to James'. "If LeBron decides to look at other options, it won't just be teams with cap space. He has 30 options if he wants them."

Which gives them enough room to run with the scenario of James heading to the Clippers even though they don't have cap space. Unnamed "league executives" say that in this scenario the Heat would ask for Griffin in return. No context is given if the executives actually think this could happen, or if they're just running with this ESPN imagine scenario.

Basically this is a story in which Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne decided to wonder, "Hey, what if LeBron went to the Clippers?" Then they found some anonymous sources to comment on the idea, but not a single person to say "Yeah, I actually think that's going to happen."